Ex HGTV Host Jenn Todryk Shares How 'No Demo Reno' Took a Toll on Motherhood Before She Chose to Pause Show (Exclusive)

The designer tells PEOPLE she needed to prioritize her family after becoming too exhausted from starring in and producing season 3 of the home makeover series

NEED TO KNOW

• Jenn Todryk paused her HGTV show No Demo Reno after three seasons to prioritize her family and personal wellbeing
• She balanced motherhood with her role as executive producer, overseeing designs and production details behind the scenes
• Todryk now focuses on content creation and spending time with her three kids and husband Mike

After starring on HGTV's No Demo Reno for three seasons, Jenn Todryk hit pause on production — and the reason was all about her family's wellbeing.

In April 2026, five years after her show first premiered, the influencer-turned-home renovator, 37, made headlines when she posted on her Instagram Stories that she "chose to walk away" from the series "at the perfect time." 

Over a photo of her filming an episode with one of her kids clinging to her legs on the floor, she added, "I didn't want my kids to spend their childhood on a set. I didn't want their home and safe space to feel like a set or [have them] be at home while I was away."

While speaking to PEOPLE, Todryk — who shares son Von as well as daughters Berkley and Vivienne with her husband Mike — opens up about that decision and what was happening behind the scenes of the show that led her to hit pause on No Demo Reno.

When she first started developing the series in 2018, she had just given birth to Vivienne. Then, over the course of the show's run from 2021 to 2023, she and Mike grew their family. So, while navigating pregnancy and parenting young kids, Todryk was also designing living room and kitchen makeovers for clients and friends. As the show progressed, she grew her role instead of pulling back.

By season 2, she successfully fought to become an executive producer, which she says was far from a "vanity EP" credit. For her, that meant taking on all the responsibilities behind the scenes, from spearheading designs to finalizing shoot schedules as well as having a hand in the way episodes were shot and providing notes on the final cuts. 

"I was also behind the scenes as far as what the show's tone was and how we showed everything, how we shot things," she says of putting her all into the production. As a result, she says she is really proud of seasons 2 and 3, because the show "definitely incorporated more of my humor and how I wanted things shot and more of the interviews that are off the cuff, more improv style." 

Yet, Todryk admits she "was exhausted, at the end of the day, trying to wear all the hats" of a TV star and a mom.

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She ended up creating some hard ground rules, including insisting filming was limited to between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

"It just got to the point during season 3 where I was very stubborn and I stuck to my guns that work was done at 4:30," she says. "I wanted to be done because we have three kids. They're all very active and my husband is one person and we can't clone him."

"I don't think my kids recognized it because they were too young," she says, but after a while, "I would get home from filming and I felt like I wasn't being my most energetic mom when I was in the moment with them."

And work on the show didn't stop just because she wasn't in front of the camera. The self-professed "control freak" admits, "I would shoot and then I would put my kids to bed and then I'd have to watch cuts and look over beat sheets."

She wasn't willing to fudge any of the creative work with the help of extra hands behind the scenes. "I had to really look at myself and be like, 'Am I willing to give up the design where someone designs behind the scenes and I say I did it?'" she recalls.

Looking back on season 3 now, Todryk says, "I was just trying to survive and to get to bedtime because I was so tired. I also have Hashimoto's to a very severe degree, which is a thyroid disease and an autoimmune disorder. And so I was trying to navigate that and figure that out too."

While her passion for the project didn't fade, she was running out of gas toward the end, and she started to question who she was doing it all for. It came down to: "This is really cool, but it's pretty self-serving," she says. "Look at me, I'm on a TV show while my husband is pulling his weight," she says. "I'll get emotional if I talk about it."

Eventually, when she was totally wrung out, Todryk thought to herself, "You know what? I can say pause." 

From there, it was a matter of letting HGTV know her decision and feeling confident that she made the right choice for herself and her family. "I worked really hard to get into this perfect, well-oiled machine and me having so much say in the content and how the show was and I just felt very in control. And then I left," she says. 

Now, with Todryk focused on being a mom and content creation full-time, she says, "I get to do my really fun thing, which is show up on social media, make my community and do whatever the heck I want and be weird as all get out."

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